Nick Hakim - Cometa (LP)

Nick Hakim’s third album, Cometa, feels like the moment the room goes quiet and the lights dim, not because you’ve told them to, but because something delicate is about to happen. Released in October 2022 on ATO Records, it follows Green Twins (2017) and Will This Make Me Good (2020), and it’s the most intimate he’s sounded yet. The title tips you off. Cometa suggests a slow-moving streak of light, and that’s the pace of these songs: unhurried, softly glowing, intensely close.

Hakim has always lived in that hazy pocket where psychedelic soul, bedroom pop and torch song all curl into one, but here he tightens the frame. The arrangements are slim and tactile. You get brushed drums, buttery bass, guitar that feels recorded in the same room as your ears, and keys that sigh more than they sing. Vocals are whispered, stacked, sometimes bordering on a murmur. It’s not lo-fi for the sake of it. The sound design is tasteful and intentional, the sort of record that opens up when you put it on a turntable and let the air between the instruments do its work. If you’re after Nick Hakim vinyl, Cometa vinyl earns its spot, plain and simple.

“Happen” is the obvious entry point. It’s become a fan favourite for good reason. Hakim lingers on the word itself, stretching it like gum until the syllables turn to texture. There’s a woozy shimmer to the chords, a sense of time puddling rather than ticking. “Vertigo” spins even more gently, the tempo barely moving, like a slow dance you fall into after the party. He’s got a knack for making longing feel weightless, and Cometa leans into that, stripping away anything that would break the spell. Some artists chase hooks. Hakim chases a feeling, and he keeps it alive for the entire record.

This is a love album, but not the fireworks kind. It’s the warmth of a hand held under the dinner table. The lyrics are spare and conversational. He’ll sketch a scene with a few lines, then let the instrumentation carry the emotion. The choices are unshowy but smart. Little flickers of tape hiss and room noise give the songs a lived-in texture. The bass often leads the way, melodic and round, while guitars sit close and glassy. You can hear how carefully it’s been assembled without the magic being explained away. That’s part of why it suits vinyl. Small details that might skim past on headphones start to bloom when you’re sitting with the record, needle down, no distractions. If you like to buy Nick Hakim records online and line them up at home, this one rewards a quiet lounge and a late night.

Critics heard it too. The album drew warm notices from the likes of Pitchfork and The Guardian, who honed in on its soft-focus romance and the elegance of its restraint. It’s not a radical reinvention, more a confident narrowing of the aperture. Where Will This Make Me Good sprawled and spiralled, Cometa commits to intimacy. The run time is lean, the pacing deliberate, and the mood consistent without feeling samey. By the back half, the record has you attuned to its frequency, and the small shifts land like deep breaths.

If you’re crate-digging, the ATO pressing has become a go-to recommendation for anyone who asks for something soulful and modern that still sounds gorgeous on a proper system. I’ve seen it move quickly in my local Melbourne record store, which tracks with the quiet cult around Hakim’s work here. There’s a steady stream of folks hunting Nick Hakim albums on vinyl, often tipping from Green Twins to this. And for anyone outside the city, a bunch of shops dealing in vinyl records Australia will sort you out, though it’s also an easy add to cart if you prefer to buy Nick Hakim records online direct from the label.

What sticks after a few spins is how unforced it feels. Cometa doesn’t posture. It doesn’t chase scale. It trusts the small moments to carry the weight, and they do. Not every artist can make a whisper fill a room. Hakim has that knack, and this album captures it with quiet clarity. If you’ve ever fallen for a record that seems to hum at the edge of sleep, that tucks you into a mood and leaves you there, you’ll find a new favourite here.